the possession of
others. Only after long delay and considerable trouble and expense was
I able to recover them and realize my long-cherished purpose.

Further delay in the publication of this book has arisen from my
having been compelled, as my father's executor, to make three long and
laborious journeys to Brazil, which have engrossed much time.

At length, however, I find myself able to pay the debt which I
owe both to my father's memory and to the public, by whom the
"Autobiography of a Seaman" was read with so much interest. At the
beginning of last year I placed all the necessary documents in the
hands of my friend, Mr. H.R. Fox Bourne, asking him to handle them
with the same zeal of research and impartiality of judgment which he
has shown in his already published works. I have also furnished
him with my own reminiscences of so much of my father's life as was
personally known to me; and he has availed himself of all the help
that could be obtained from other sources of information, both private
and public. He has written the book to the best of his ability, and I
have done my utmost to help him in making it as complete and accurate
as possible. We hope that the late Earl of Dundonald's life and
character have been all the better delineated in that the work has
grown out of the personal knowledge of his son and the unbiassed
judgment of a stranger.

A long time having elapsed since the publication of the "Autobiography
of a Seaman," it has been thought well to give a brief recapitulation
of its story in an opening chapter.

The four following chapters recount my father's history during the
five years following the cruel Stock Exchange trial, the subject last
treated of in the "Autobiography." It is not strange that the
harsh treatment to which he was subjected should have led him into
opposition, in which there was some violence, which he afterwards
condemned, against the Government of the day. But, if there were
circumstances to be regretted in this portion of his career, it shows
almost more plainly than any other with what strength of philanthropy
he sought to aid the poor and the oppressed.

His occupations as Chief Admiral, first of Chili and afterwards
of Brazil, were described by himself in two volumes, entitled, "A
Narrative of Services in Chili, Peru, and Brazil." Therefore, the
seven chapters of the present work which describe these episodes
have been made as concise as possible. Only the most memor